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The worst news opens of all time


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Here are is an open so f****** cheesy I feel like crackers. From NBC 10 in Philadelphia, News 10 First at 4 1999, featuring people on the street announcing the open:

 

Cheesy? Yeah. But for some reason it works. I don't know why, but the open is just really fun, and if WPVI can get away with people strumming imaginary banjos in their opens, WCAU can get away with people screaming "New Jersey!!!!!!!!" Plus, the music is just phenomenal. I don't know why people keep saying "it's like WPVI" though. WPVI is fast-paced, WCAU's open is a bit slower.

 

 

From the Bill Applegate era at CBS 2 in Chicago:

Bush league crap, especially for a station whose ratings dominance could have once been accurately described as ridiculous.

 

That's actually one of my favorite opens ever, simply because it's so ridiculously stupid. "KURTIS! MACCLENNAN!!! MACPHERRIN!!!!!!!!!! BASKERVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1"

 

It's up there with the John Lippman KCBS opens... Channel 2 Action News FOR ALL OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

 

---

 

Now, unfortunately, I have a new pick, and it's from a station I've come to recognize as one of the best.

 

I really hate doing this, because WCAU's product is so good, I'm really starting to dig the theme which they're using well, and the whole refreshed/basic look really does shine. There are some great bumpers, particularly for the Investigators, and they finally got rid of some stock cuts they've used for a decade or more for appropriate LA Groove cues.

 

It's just... the open bothers me.

 

[yt]1Rt-i31_QGc[/yt]

 

I realize the intent is to focus on the entire area and not just Philadelphia, which explains why there's no skyline or specific city footage, and why the open includes "PENNSYLVANIA NEW JERSEY DELAWARE". It's just... that end frame. They end it on a shot of the colored peacock and that's just hideous design. It also sucks that they had about a dozen randomized opens prior to a few weeks ago, but again, they want to focus on the entire region. If they'd just replace that with the blue background being used on the "Count on It" promos, the opens would be just fine.

 

Again, that's the only thing that bugs me. Everything else is fine, even the stuff other people seem to hate like the serif font. That's probably my favorite part of the new look.

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And yet WJZ is still first place. They must be doing something right in Maryland

According to some promos I saw with footnotes WBAL won the demo in ever newscast except the morning (which is beyond me why people like Marty Bass) and WJZ may have had more viewers but not in the demo.

 

The thing that distracts me about WJZs chroma cues is that the music is played so loud it seems harsh to me and then the anchors audio is so low. I personally think it reminds me as nails on a chalkboard.

 

I can't stand the voice over that WBAL has used since the Olympics started using the tag "Your watching Baltimore's Olympic station. Live. Local. Latebreaking. This WBAL-TV 11 News at Six." Thankfully the Olympics are over but the sentence structure seemed odd almost unnatural. The voice over artist is still Bill Ratner and does not bother. It is done in the same tone as the regular introductions.

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

This is...I don't know how to describe it, just watch. KQDS, Duluth/Superior.

(Thumpity bump bump)

[yt]ZK6ZPbkQq2A[/yt]

 

The funny thing is that the set is decent and the anchors are far and away better than you'd expect for a small market.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the anchor on the left reminds me of Jared Harris (Lane Pryce, Mad Men). Professionally done. Graphics were worse than our graphics before acquiring Tristan Bresnen's "Southern Prime" graphics in 2008.

 

What I really like? It's an actual local newscast. Way up in Market 21, by minute 3, we'd be into AP wire copy. They just need a solid graphics artist.

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  • 3 months later...

I think I've found a new entrant, if only for the music. This is the 2009?-present look of Cuba's national newscasts (same theme, different graphics):

 

 

Graphics are fine but getting quite dated. Music is by Aliusca Romejón Piñeda. The interstitial theme at the beginning is also from this news theme.

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My first post here. :)

 

Two come to mind: one for bad intros and one for anchor pics.

 

The obvious one that comes to mind is, for me, the now defunct WVTX. This was an attempt to create a third competing station in the Wheeling-Stubenville market. A UPN station, and, along with all of its problems that the station had with some draconian actions from the owners, this opening showed their budget:

 

 

The "bump" music:

 

As for the talent shots, these from WOIO/WUAB (19 Action News) in Cleveland look like mug shots:

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My first post here. :)

 

Two come to mind: one for bad intros and one for anchor pics.

 

The obvious one that comes to mind is, for me, the now defunct WVTX. This was an attempt to create a third competing station in the Wheeling-Stubenville market. A UPN station, and, along with all of its problems that the station had with some draconian actions from the owners, this opening showed their budget:

 

 

The "bump" music:

 

As for the talent shots, these from WOIO/WUAB (19 Action News) in Cleveland look like mug shots:

 

So Nate Fluharty started as a weathercaster at a low-budget no-name small-market UPN station and now he's the weeknight anchor at WTRF? Crazy how TV news works sometimes.

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So Nate Fluharty started as a weathercaster at a low-budget no-name small-market UPN station and now he's the weeknight anchor at WTRF? Crazy how TV news works sometimes.

 

You say small-market as though Fluharty jumped up quite a few markets. WVTX and WTRF are in the same market.
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  • 5 months later...

WJZs chroma cues drive me crazy. To me their sonic branding is like nails on a chalkboard to a teacher.

 

 

Music remains [with the damn DONG]. But there's a missed opportunity - for the ID, a nice instrumental bed that could've built up to an updated Chroma Cues track. But no. (Oh, and the animations have, typically, gotten worse)

 

Does anybody secretly wish WJZ could fall in the ratings so CBS can override their look? It's practically begging for death.

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Music remains [with the damn DONG]. But there's a missed opportunity - for the ID, a nice instrumental bed that could've built up to an updated Chroma Cues track. But no. (Oh, and the animations have, typically, gotten worse)

 

Does anybody secretly wish WJZ could fall in the ratings so CBS can override their look? It's practically begging for death.

Chroma Cues would work with the CBS standardized look. It's just the rest of the open that is beyond hokey and small-market. But that's not the worst part:

 

"In your community... where you live... it's WJZ. Maryland's News Station."

 

I have no idea how Pat Garrett can say that mush and keep a straight face. Why is K.C. Robertson ashamed to have Pat simply say, "From WJZ 13, Maryland's News Station, this is Eyewitness News" ???

 

Did K.C. Robertson acquire the computers WKBW ditched after the Scripps takeover? Because it sure looks like it.

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Chroma Cues would work with the CBS standardized look. It's just the rest of the open that is beyond hokey and small-market. But that's not the worst part:"In your community... where you live... it's WJZ. Maryland's News Station."

I have no idea how Pat Garrett can say that mush and keep a straight face. Why is K.C. Robertson ashamed to have Pat simply say, "From WJZ 13, Maryland's News Station, this is Eyewitness News" ???

Did K.C. Robertson acquire the computers WKBW ditched after the Scripps takeover? Because it sure looks like it.

At least it's somewhat better or worse than "From the city, to the counties, to your neighborhood. Now, it's complete coverage. It's WJZ. Maryland's News Station."

 

Ironically, since picking up Pat Garrett, WJZ hasn't used the words "Eyewitness News" in their opens.

 

They're making WMAR look good.

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